


The Flat is Not the World

by misspamela



Category: Last Rune Series - Mark Anthony
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2013-12-18
Packaged: 2018-01-05 00:46:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1087592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misspamela/pseuds/misspamela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Travis and Beltan return to Earth and have sex. Really, it's just a PWP. I hope you like porn, Quettaser! This was so much fun to write!</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Flat is Not the World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Quettaser](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quettaser/gifts).



> Thanks to A and R for betaing and to Mark Anthony for writing such a weird and wonderful series.

Beltan remembers little about his return to Earth. The lights and noise and smells were no less overwhelming this time around, despite his fairy blood, and both he and Travis were heartsick over Vani’s departure. Beltan was more than a little worried that Travis would not welcome him into his life and his bed, or that Travis would choose to chase after Vani after all, but Travis appeared happy to be back on Earth. He was lighter and freer than Beltan had ever seen him. 

After negotiating with the Seekers for the currency of this world and for the cards that would allow them to pass as citizens, a concept that was strange to Beltan, they left for _Lun-din_ , a place that was far from Travis’ home. 

“I just want to start over,” he’d said, resting his head on Beltan’s shoulder. “And big cities are good. Anonymous.” 

Starting over was something Beltan could understand here, a world away from everything he ever knew. 

This world was so strange, with everyone walking and talking so fast, with the cars and trains, and the big, terrifying _air-plane_ they flew in. Beltan spent the entire journey pressed to the tiny window. Being so high up made his stomach swoop and drop, but in a good way, like the moment before riding into battle. 

“If you tell me this is science and not magic,” he said, “I will not believe you.” Travis had just laughed. 

_Lun-din_ was bigger and noisier and dirtier than any other place he’d seen on Earth. Beltan understood, somehow, through the magic of the fairy blood, that these people spoke a little differently than the people of Travis’ realm, but it made no difference to him. The fairy blood let him be understood, no matter who he was speaking to. 

The Seekers had found them a place to live, a set of rooms in a larger building. Travis had explained it like they were renting a room at an inn, but this was not like sharing vermin and straw mattresses. It was more like taking rooms at Calavere, with all the comforts one could ask for, save one important difference. 

“Travis, where do the servants sleep?” Beltan asked, after exploring each room, marveling at how clean and white everything was. This world was so bright. 

“No servants,” Travis said, shaking his head and smiling. “Most people these days don’t have them.” He stood and stretched, distracting Beltan momentarily with the movement of his muscles under his t-shirt and the small strip of skin that was exposed as he lifted his arms. “I don’t think I’m going back to work right away. I’ll keep the place up. It’s easier with modern technology anyway.” 

Beltan walked over to Travis and kissed him, pressing his hand to the flat of his belly, the same spot that had been exposed a moment before. Things between them had not progressed further than kisses and tentative touching. First, Vani was there, and there was the aftermath of the battle to deal with, and then there was the trip to Earth, and then they were with the Seekers, who didn’t even bother giving them the illusion of privacy. _And you’re a coward_ , Beltan’s inner voice told him. 

Travis has not heard the Call of the Bull, as he had. Travis had been intimate with women in the past. He knew Travis loved him, but desired him? Truly? Beltan moved his hand higher, tracing Travis’ ribs, then wrapping his hand around his back and pulling him closer. 

“We have a bed,” Travis said, between kisses. “And I’m mostly sure the Seekers haven’t put surveillance cameras in there.” He tugged gently on the front of Beltan’s shirt. 

“Let them watch,” Beltan murmured into his mouth, and let himself be led. 

Travis, walking backward, kicking off his shoes as he went, unnaturally graceful just for a moment before he stumbled on a corner of the rug. He pulled off his shirt. 

Beltan stopped short in the doorway to the bedroom, leaning his hand against the worn and nicked doorframe. He longed to run to Travis, to touch every inch of him, but he needed to be sure. “Travis,” he said, cautiously. He was not a man of words. Beltan knew his way around the battlefield and the bedroom, but words of love felt strange in his mouth. 

Travis stopped undressing and looked at him. He began to look unsure, his eyebrows drawing together. “Beltan, what?”

“Have you ever…” Beltan ran his hand through his hair, unsure of how to say what he meant. “You are not one who has heard the Call of the Bull. And I know you have loved women before…”

Travis smiled, unfastened his pants, and dropped them to the floor. Beltan’s breath caught in his chest. “You’re right,” he said, reaching for Beltan and tugging him into the bedroom. “I’ve slept with women before. But I also--” here, he blushed, and Beltan couldn’t help kissing him quickly on his reddened cheek.”I had thoughts,” he said. “Sometimes. About men. And trust me when I say, I never loved anyone the way I love you.”

“I do not doubt your love,” Beltan said, “only your enthusiasm.” 

Travis started laughing, his whole body shaking with it as he pulled Beltan toward the bed, _stronger than he should be_ , Beltan thought. “If only all my problems could be so easily solved,” Travis said, reaching up and curling his hand around the back of Beltan’s neck, bringing his mouth level with Travis’ own. “Let’s see if my enthusiasm meets your requirements, Sir Knight.” 

They kissed, falling backward together onto the bed, shoving it against the wall with a loud creak. Everything on the bed was so soft, the materials strange and slippery against Beltan’s skin. He had thought that nothing could be more luxurious than the hotel beds they’d shared on the way here, but this, with its soft blankets and coverlets, this was beyond Beltan’s imaginings.

He could feel Travis hot and hard against him, the proof of his arousal undeniable. “Enthusiasm, huh?” he said, thrusting against Beltan’s stomach, making him gasp. “I’m ready to explode, Beltan, I can’t take any more teasing.”

Travis sat up, his legs straddling Beltan’s hips, and even in shadow, lit from behind by the glow from the doorway, Beltan could see how he’d changed so radically from the man he once knew. His chest was smooth and muscled, the body of a warrior, not a tavern-keeper. He could not hold back any longer. 

Beltan grasped him around the hips and pulled him forward, biting the inside of his thigh. Travis drew in a breath, sharp, almost a gasp. His cock stirred against Beltan’s cheek, fully hard and throbbing with heat. Beltan licked up the length of him, tasting the salt-sweet of his skin. 

“Beltan,” Travis moaned. He shifted his hips restlessly. “Now.” 

Well. Beltan was a soldier, after all. He could never resist a command. 

He rolled over, taking Travis with him, stopping to kiss him deeply while Travis ran his hands over Beltan’s body, unskilled but not shy. He reached for Beltan’s cock, but Beltan broke off the kiss and pushed him away. “Too much,” he said, panting. “I will embarrass myself like a new initiate.” He could feel it pooling in his belly, the possibility of just enough friction, just enough sensation, that could send him over the edge. He slid down the bed. “I want to make this good for you.” 

Travis canted his hips, grabbing at the sheets. “It is,” he gasped. “It is, oh Beltan, I love you--” he cut off, swearing, as Beltan took him into his mouth. 

He was close; Beltan could feel that much, just from their brief fumbling. He was hot and hard and heavy in Beltan’s mouth, with the taste of his seed already making Beltan’s mouth water in anticipation. Laughing at his own foolishness -- how could he ever think Travis did not want this? -- Beltan focused his efforts, wrapping one hand around the base of Travis’ cock and using the other to trace the soft skin around his hip and belly. 

Even with his own arousal competing for his attention, Beltan became aware of something else on the edge of his consciousness. Gold sparks behind his eyes as they closed, a sudden rush of desert heat in contrast to the damp coolness of their new home. As Travis thrashed, his heels digging into the bed, those feelings intensified, images of desert and black stone and rivers of gold rushing behind Beltan’s eyes, confusing, but not dampening his enthusiasm at all. In fact, the surges of power made him even harder, dripping his seed into the mattress. 

Travis cried out, scrabbling his hands in Beltan’s hair, and the explosion of _black-gold-heat-sand-a great city, rising rising_ made him jerk back in surprise, just in time to see sparks of gold chasing themselves across Travis’ skin before fading away. 

The surprise of the moment should have taken Beltan out of it, should have pushed him away from the edge, but instead it pushed him closer, energy and electricity surging up from his toes as he pulled himself up to rut shamelessly against Travis’ hip. “Sorry,” he gasped, messily kissing Travis, missing his mouth entirely and sliding around to bite at his chin. “I can’t,” he grasped at Travis’ waist and crushed their sticky bodies together, chasing the right friction to put an end to this, because he was burning up from the inside. 

“Ssshhh,” Travis said, sliding his hand down to circle around Beltan’s cock. “I’ve got you.” He began to move his hand, jerking just hard enough to set explosions off behind Beltan’s eyes. “You’re so close,” Travis murmured wonderingly. “Shame I won’t get a chance to put my mouth on you.” 

And that, that image, of Travis sinking down and -- he couldn’t help it, he came, gasping Travis’ name, striping them both with his seed, the world going bright and dark at the same time. He kissed Travis’ shoulder as he shuddered through the aftershocks, feeling a warm contentment curl through him. 

He felt safe, he realized. It had been a long time since he’d felt that. So long that it took him a moment to recognize it, the absence of vigilance, a weakness in his muscles urging him toward sleep. 

“I love you,” Travis said, into his hair. “And I will continue to find ways to convince you of my enthusiasm, hmmm?”

“If I hadn’t gone off like a fool acolyte,” Beltan grumbled, and Travis laughed. 

“I’ll take it as a compliment,” he said. “The first of many.” 

This was a strange world, and even in the dark of their bedroom, Beltan could see lights that didn’t make sense, of all colors, blinking and glowing strangely. The city outside was loud, with shouting people and an underlying mechanical roar. And yet, they were safe. Safe and not quite whole, with Vani and their missing child leaving a space between them. But for now, they could sleep, protected from the dangers of this world and the next, lovers at last, ready to make a new home in the lights and noise of London.


End file.
